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Argentina’s males’s basketball group, the final group aside from the U.S. to win Olympic gold, will miss the Olympics for the primary time since 2000.
A Bahamas group with Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon and Buddy Hield beat host Argentina 82-75 in a pre-2024 Olympic qualifying match closing.
The Bahamas advances to one in every of 4, last-chance, winner-take-all Olympic qualifying tournaments subsequent yr, possible in June.
Argentina, ranked fourth on the earth, was eradicated from Olympic qualifying.
Its loss got here six months after Argentina did not qualify for the FIBA World Cup, lacking that quadrennial championship for the primary time since 1982.
Argentina made the quarterfinals of the final 5 Olympics, highlighted by profitable the 2004 Athens Video games, the final time the U.S. didn’t prevail.
That group was led by Manu Ginobili, however Argentina now has zero energetic NBA gamers. Carlos Delfino, 40, is the final hyperlink to the Golden Technology, taking part in 29 minutes towards the Bahamas.
The Bahamas has by no means competed in Olympic basketball. Its males’s group is ranked 56th on the earth, however certainly shifting up below Chris DeMarco, a Golden State Warriors assistant.
Gordon, a Suns guard who scored 27 factors Sunday, has a Bahamian mother and was reportedly cleared to symbolize the nation earlier this month. He beforehand performed for the U.S. on the 2010 Worlds.
Ayton, a Phoenix Suns middle who had 10 factors and 21 rebounds on Sunday, is from the Bahamas.
Hield, an Indiana Pacers guard who scored 15 factors, can also be from the Bahamas.
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